Deal origination is a critical starting point for building a gender-diverse pipeline. Fund managers often report that it is a challenge to identify women-led companies to invest in both developed and emerging markets. Yet recent studies show that there are at least 230 million women-led businesses around the world, a figure that continues to grow 1. Female entrepreneurship is higher in emerging markets, driven in part my economic necessity. For example, Africa is the only region in the world where more women than men choose to become entrepreneurs.2 To bridge connections, fund managers can follow practical steps to expand and diversify their network. See the section on Deal Origination in Private Equity and Value Creation: A Fund Manager’s Guide to Gender-smart Investing.
1 GEM 2018-2019 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report
2 World Bank 2019 Profiting from Parity: Unlocking the Potential of Women’s Business in Africa
